CASV ETF: what CASV.TO is, what it holds, and how it works

Short answer: CASV.TO is the Avantis CIBC Global Small Cap Value ETF. It listed on the TSX on March 13, 2026. CIBC manages the Canadian wrapper and Avantis Investors runs the strategy. It holds small, cheap, profitable companies across global developed markets, benchmarked against the MSCI World Small Cap Value Index. The management fee is 0.39%. The full MER hasn’t been published yet because of the first-year reporting rule. CASV is a single-factor satellite holding, not a complete portfolio.

When CIBC and Avantis listed their Canadian ETF lineup in March 2026, most of the attention went to CAGE, the all-in-one all-equity fund. But the lineup also includes a more specialized tool that long-horizon DIY investors have been asking about for years: a Canadian-listed small-cap value fund running the Avantis methodology. That’s CASV.

This guide is a plain-English walkthrough of what CASV actually is, who runs it, what it holds, and how the strategy works. If you’re trying to decide whether it belongs in your portfolio at all, the comparison articles at the end go deeper.

This is not financial advice. I’m sharing what I’ve learned from my own research, and your situation might be different from mine. Fund details change over time, so always check the latest disclosures before making a decision.

What CASV actually is

CASV.TO is an ETF listed on the TSX, trading in Canadian dollars. CIBC Asset Management is the manager and handles the Canadian wrapper, distribution, and disclosure. Avantis Investors, a unit of American Century in the U.S., is the sub-advisor that designs and runs the strategy.

Unlike CAGE, which is a complete global all-equity portfolio in one ticker, CASV does one specific job: it concentrates on small companies that look cheap on fundamentals and are reliably profitable, across global developed markets. It is benchmarked against the MSCI World Small Cap Value Index. That makes it a single-factor satellite holding, the kind of thing you add on top of a broad core, not a fund you’d hold as your entire equity allocation.

CASV fund facts at a glance:

CASV fund facts

Attribute	Value
Ticker	CASV (TSX)
Full name	Avantis CIBC Global Small Cap Value ETF
Inception	March 13, 2026
Strategy	Global small-cap value, factor-tilted
Benchmark	MSCI World Small Cap Value Index
Management fee	0.39%
MER	Not yet published (first-year rule)
Currency	CAD, unhedged
Role in a portfolio	Satellite (single-factor tilt, on top of a core)
Manager	CIBC, sub-advised by Avantis Investors
Eligible accounts	TFSA, RRSP, FHSA, RESP, RDSP, RRIF, LIRA, non-registered

What CASV holds

CASV holds a globally diversified basket of small-capitalization companies across developed markets, screened toward value and profitability. The point of the fund is concentration in one corner of the market: the small, cheap, profitable end. It deliberately does not hold large-cap stocks, growth stocks, or the broad market the way an all-in-one fund does.

CIBC hasn’t published a full top-holdings and geographic breakdown yet. That’s normal for a fund this new, and the disclosures will fill in as CASV completes a reporting cycle. What you can rely on for now is the mandate: global developed-market small-caps, value-screened, profitability-screened, benchmarked to the MSCI World Small Cap Value Index.

The fee, and the first-year MER rule

CASV’s management fee is 0.39%. That’s the figure CIBC charges for running the fund, and it sits at the higher end of the Avantis CIBC lineup, where fees range from about 0.19% on the broad cap-weighted-style sleeves up to 0.39% on the more specialized factor funds like CASV.

The full MER, which adds operating expenses on top of the management fee, hasn’t been published. Canadian regulators don’t require a fund to publish its full MER in its first year of inception, so the number won’t appear on disclosure documents until CASV has a complete reporting cycle. When it lands, expect it to come in a few basis points above 0.39%.

For context, that’s meaningfully more than a broad all-in-one like XEQT (roughly 0.20% after BlackRock’s December 2025 fee cut) or CAGE (0.28%). You’re paying for a deliberate, concentrated factor tilt, not broad-market exposure. Whether that’s worth it depends entirely on whether you want that tilt in the first place.

Management fee: CASV vs broad all-in-ones

XEQT (broad, cap-weighted) 0.2%

CAGE (all-equity, factor-tilted) 0.28%

CASV (small-cap value tilt) 0.39%

How the small-cap value strategy works

This is the part that distinguishes CASV from a broad-market fund. Without it, the higher fee makes no sense.

A broad index fund owns the market roughly in proportion to company size, so the biggest companies dominate. CASV does the opposite by design. It deliberately concentrates in:

• Small size. Small-capitalization companies only. No megacaps, no large-caps. This is the part of the market with the widest historical spread of outcomes.
• Value. Companies that look cheap relative to their fundamentals (book value, earnings, cash flow) get the weight. The thesis is that paying less for a dollar of fundamentals tends to pay off over long stretches.
• Profitability. Reliably profitable small companies are favoured; chronically unprofitable ones are filtered out or reduced. This screen is what separates the Avantis approach from owning every cheap small company indiscriminately.

The academic foundation goes back to Eugene Fama and Kenneth French, with Robert Novy-Marx adding the profitability piece in 2013. Decades of data suggest small-cap value has rewarded patient investors over very long horizons.

The honest caveat is bigger here than with a broad fund. A concentrated small-cap value tilt can underperform the broad market for ten years or more. That’s not a malfunction. It’s the nature of a factor bet. Anyone holding CASV has to be willing to sit through long stretches of trailing a plain XEQT without abandoning the position, because abandoning a factor tilt at the bottom is how investors turn a long-run premium into a personal loss.

Who built it: CIBC plus Avantis

CIBC runs the Canadian side: the wrapper, the listing, the disclosures, the day-to-day administration. Avantis Investors designs and operates the underlying strategy.

Avantis was founded in 2019 inside American Century by a team that came over from Dimensional Fund Advisors. Their U.S.-listed funds, especially AVUV (U.S. small-cap value), became staples in the Bogleheads-adjacent and Rational Reminder corners of the internet. For years the only way for a Canadian to access the Avantis small-cap value approach was to buy a U.S.-listed fund in a USD account, with the currency conversion and account friction that involves. CASV, and its U.S.-only sibling CAUV, close that gap with Canadian-listed wrappers.

CASV is one of eight funds in the broader Avantis CIBC lineup that launched in March 2026. The others split the strategy across Canadian, U.S., international, and all-equity sleeves for people who want broad exposure rather than a concentrated tilt.

Distributions and tax basics

CASV is an equity ETF, so it distributes dividends from the underlying companies and any realized capital gains. Like the rest of the Avantis CIBC lineup, CASV is set up to distribute quarterly, in line with CAGE, XEQT, and VEQT.

In a TFSA, RRSP, FHSA, RESP, RDSP, RRIF, or LIRA, the tax behaviour is straightforward: distributions and capital gains are sheltered.

In a non-registered account, the tax picture for any brand-new global equity fund takes a full tax year to clarify, particularly how foreign withholding tax on the underlying international holdings flows through. If you’re putting CASV in a taxable account, it’s worth waiting for that first full cycle of distribution data.

How CASV compares to CAGE, CAUV, and AVUV

Quick orientation. Each of these has a dedicated comparison article that goes deeper.

• CAGE vs CASV. CAGE is the complete all-equity portfolio in one ticker. CASV is a single-factor satellite. They aren’t really competing products, they do different jobs. This is the comparison most people actually need.
• CASV vs AVUV. AVUV is the U.S.-listed Avantis small-cap value original, in USD. CASV is the Canadian-listed global version. Same family, different wrapper, different geographic scope.
• CASV vs CAUV. CAUV is the Avantis CIBC U.S.-only small-cap value sleeve. CASV is the global version. If you specifically want U.S. small-cap value rather than global, CAUV is the narrower tool.

For the broad all-equity decision most readers actually face, the CAGE ETF guide and the CAGE vs XEQT comparison are the better starting points.

Frequently asked questions

What is CASV.TO?

CASV.TO is the Avantis CIBC Global Small Cap Value ETF, managed by CIBC with Avantis Investors as the sub-advisor. It listed on the TSX on March 13, 2026, trades in Canadian dollars, and concentrates on small, cheap, profitable companies across global developed markets. It is benchmarked against the MSCI World Small Cap Value Index. It is a single-factor satellite holding, not a complete portfolio.

What is CASV’s MER?

CASV’s management fee is 0.39%. The full MER, which adds operating expenses on top of the management fee, has not been published yet because Canadian regulators don’t require a full MER in a fund’s first year. Once disclosed, expect it to land a few basis points above 0.39%. That is meaningfully higher than a broad all-in-one like XEQT or CAGE, which is the cost of a deliberate, concentrated factor tilt.

What does CASV hold?

CASV holds a globally diversified basket of small-capitalization companies across developed markets, screened toward value and profitability. It deliberately excludes large-caps and the broad market. CIBC hasn’t published a full top-holdings breakdown yet, but the mandate is clear: global small-cap value, benchmarked to the MSCI World Small Cap Value Index.

Is CASV a complete portfolio?

No. CASV is a single-factor satellite. Holding only CASV would leave you with no large-cap, no growth, and no broad-market exposure. It is designed to sit on top of a broad core (like XEQT, VEQT, or CAGE) for investors who specifically want to add a small-cap value tilt. The CAGE vs CASV guide explains the core-versus-satellite distinction in detail.

What is the difference between CASV and AVUV?

AVUV is the U.S.-listed Avantis small-cap value ETF, trading in USD with U.S. tax treatment and the currency friction Canadians know well. It is U.S.-focused. CASV is the Canadian-listed, CAD-denominated, globally diversified small-cap value fund. Same Avantis family and methodology, different wrapper and different geographic scope. The CASV vs AVUV guide covers the trade-off.

Can I hold CASV in a TFSA, RRSP, or FHSA?

Yes. CASV trades on the TSX in Canadian dollars, so it’s eligible in any standard Canadian registered account: TFSA, RRSP, FHSA, RESP, RDSP, RRIF, and LIRA, as well as non-registered accounts. In registered accounts, distributions and capital gains are sheltered.

Who is Avantis?

Avantis Investors is a unit of American Century, founded in 2019 by a team that came from Dimensional Fund Advisors. They run a family of factor-tilted ETFs in the U.S. (AVUV, AVGE, AVUS, AVDV, and others) with a strong reputation among long-horizon DIY investors. CASV brings the Avantis global small-cap value approach into a Canadian-listed wrapper for the first time.

Bottom line

CASV is a specialized tool, not a default holding. It does one job: concentrated global small-cap value, run on the Avantis methodology, in a Canadian-listed wrapper that didn’t exist before March 2026.

If you don’t already have a view on small-cap value as a factor, you almost certainly don’t need CASV, and a broad all-in-one like XEQT or CAGE is the simpler, cheaper choice. If you do have that view and you want to express it without leaving the Canadian-listed universe, CASV is a reasonable way to do it, as long as you can hold it through the years it lags the broad market.